Footsteps
by DreamingCerulean
Summary: Percy is haunted by nightmares after the events of Tartarus. Sally can't leave him to struggle on his own. Short, fluffy one-shot.


**A/N: Hello everyone! This is a short one shot about our favorite mother-son pair. Hope you enjoy!**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own Percy Jackson and the Olympians.**

Sally had learned at a very young age to always trust her gut. Whenever she felt the slightest bit off, there was usually a high chance that there was something dangerous nearby. At first, she had simply ignored the beings and prayed for the best. This strategy had served her pretty well, as the beasts never seemed to be interested in her. What they wanted, she never really knew. It was just the way of the world that there were sometimes glowing red eyes in dark alleys and snake women two aisles over in Walmart. She watched them warily, always keeping one eye open, but, for the most part, she continued on with her life.

That had all changed when Percy entered her life, throwing it into chaos from the very beginning. Suddenly, after being given advice from Poseidon, she had needed to become much more cautious. She memorized alternate routes to her apartment, tracked the safest time of day to move around. She prayed for nectar and ambrosia from Poseidon, and stored it away for emergencies when she found it in a basket on her doorstep the next morning. She walked through the streets with a purpose, scanning every object and person like they were a threat to her and her family.

And they very well could have been. Sally would never know for sure if her efforts had actually saved her and Percy, but she didn't care. Even if they had done nothing, they had been worth it.

Later, as they both grew older and understood more of the Greek World, Sally noticed her intuition develop into something other than an indicator for physical danger. She found herself knowing what to say, and when to say it. She found herself knowing the right steps to take in a tough situation with her son, knowing how to keep him both safe and happy. Maybe it was knowledge that she had gathered from the odd ends of the internet, or a new habit that had developed over time, or maybe a skill that she had always had, unknowingly. Whatever it was, she didn't question it much. It was useful. That was enough for her.

And that was why, when Sally woke up with a start at three in the morning on a Thursday, she didn't just let herself fall back asleep. Instead, she sat up, the covers rustling around her. On her left, Paul continued to snore softly, unaffected by the noises in the night. Sally smiled at him gently before turning back to the darkness of the room.

She couldn't remember what she had been dreaming about, and if that had been what woke her up. Intense dreams weren't common for her, but they did happen occasionally. Although she probably would have remembered it if that were the case. No, it had to something else causing the familiar feel of unease curling in her stomach. Maybe something from the outside? A monster passing by on the street outside, or a machine causing a strange noise her subconscious didn't recognize. She stilled her breathing and waited.

After a moment, her pause was rewarded. A quiet tapping sound was coming from down the hallway.

Sally listened for another few minutes, before swinging her legs over the side of the bed and standing up. It was most definitely not one of the normal sounds of the apartment, and that meant that it was something worth investigating.

She took a deep breath, stretching lightly, and headed towards the door of the bedroom. The knob turned noiselessly under her hand and she stepped out into the hallway.

There was no one there. She glanced around carefully. Maybe the sound had come from the kitchen instead?

She padded down the short hallway, vision slightly fuzzy from the surrounding darkness. The light from the refrigerator was shining out through the opening of the entryway, and she blinked as her eyes adjusted.

Inside the kitchen, Percy was leaning up against the countertop, holding an empty glass. He looked up as she moved into the room and smiled weakly in greeting.

"Hey Sweetie," Sally said, opening a cupboard to grab a cup. Might as well play along with him for now.

She knew, without a doubt, that if she had heard a noise Percy had heard it as well. His hearing was just as good as hers, if not better. Since he hadn't shown any sign of alarm or confusion about the noise upon their meeting, then that meant that he either knew what the sound was and wasn't alarmed, or that he had been the one to cause the sound. And Sally was pretty sure she knew what the sound was by now.

The bags under Percy's eyes served as testament. Most likely, he had been the noise, the sound coming from his pacing footsteps in the hallway. Surely due to an inability to sleep. But from what? Nightmares, or anxiety from something else? How long had he been doing this?

"Hey Mom," Percy replied. His voice sounded exhausted. "I was just grabbing a cup of water."

Sally nodded, not believing the lie for one second. Percy set the glass down in the sink and headed back to his room. Sally waited silently, listening for his door to click shut. Once she knew he was in his room, she turned towards the sink and glanced down at his cup.

There weren't any droplets of water remaining in the glass, like there normally would have been if it had just been drained. It was completely dry. Percy had probably heard her get up and rushed to make it look like he had a purpose for being up at this hour.

Sally sighed softly. When Percy and Annabeth had finally returned home, Chiron had informed her that there would most likely be many a sleepless night for the pair. Even so, Sally had hoped that Percy would have at least come and told her when it became a major problem.

It would not appear to be the case.

Sally set her cup down in the sink next to Percy's and headed back to bed. There was nothing to be done about the situation right now. Tomorrow, or rather, later today, she would figure out what she needed to do.

* * *

A couple hours passed and Sally found herself on the couch, staring at her computer. The document was glaring right back at her, the blinking cursor taunting her mercilessly. Today had not been a particularly good day for writing. She had been completely unable to add even a single word onto her novel. She groaned and stretched out in frustration. Normally, even if she had writer's block, she could at least write a sentence or two. But apparently not today.

Her mind was too preoccupied with worry about Percy.

In hindsight, it made perfect sense that Percy wouldn't have approached her. He had always been one to try and hide his weakness from everyone else, and that trend had only continued after he had learned who he really was.

She tilted her head back and stared at the ceiling. Now that she knew of the problem, the next step would be to talk to him about it. But it was never that simple. Scenarios rushed through her head, none of them seeming to quite fit the current situation. If she tried to confront him directly, he would attempt to convince her that nothing was wrong. He would then do everything in his power to make it seem as if the problem didn't exist. No, she would have to find some way to get him to open up without causing any more stress. A different way, one that would let him will tell her what was wrong.

It was further on in the evening when Sally finally stumbled across a possible solution. She had been in the kitchen, reheating some leftover pasta that Paul had made the night before, when she had glanced over at the pantry.

A long forgotten memory tickled the base of her mind, and she smiled softly. Cookies and milk, summer nights from years ago.

It had been something that she and Percy had done often, before they had eventually dropped the tradition. Percy had been a lot smaller back then, barely up to her shoulders, when he would sneak into the kitchen for a snack during the night. When Sally had figured out what he had been doing, she made it their little secret, their little bit of time together. During the week, Sally would squirrely away a couple of treats and later, every once in a while, they would snack together. Percy would talk excitedly about anything he wanted, and it became a way for them to spend time without Gabe looming over their shoulders.

But it hadn't lasted very long. A couple of months afterwards, Sally had enrolled Percy in his first boarding school. The habit stopped. When he finally came back for break, she forgot to wake up and join him, and he had never brought it back up to her. Occasionally, they would try and start the tradition again, but it was never the same. Eventually, they stopped attempting to make it work and the nights faded away.

Maybe it was time to try again. It might not be the same, but maybe it could work for this situation. It couldn't hurt to try.

Sally took the pasta out of the microwave and immediately put it back in the fridge. She could eat it later. It was time to bake some cookies.

* * *

If Sally had any guilt about trying to force Percy to open up, it all vanished when she saw the way Percy's eyes lit up at the sight of her cookies. Every single doubt and concern seemed to fade in that one instant, and she no longer felt bad about what she was about to do. His bright smile was a welcome relief. It was good to finally see him happy after so long.

He smiled at her again, cramming a couple more cookies in his mouth before heading back to his room with his school bag. He would be back for more later, she was sure of it. Carefully, she gathered up a couple of cookies into a few napkins and tucked them behind a bag of flour in the pantry.

It was maybe two in the morning on the following day when Sally woke up again. Without moving, she listened. As expected, the pacing had resumed out in the hallway.

As quietly as she could, she slipped out of bed and into the hallway. She knew there was no way she could sneak up on Percy, but it was worth a try.

Percy wasn't there, which was a surprise to no one. Sally walked down the hallway, knowing for certain where her stubborn, selfless son would be hiding.

She peeked into the kitchen and saw Percy sitting at the table with a glass of water. His head was resting on one palm, the other hand resting on the table. Absentmindedly, he was making the water move inside the glass, as if to prove that he had been there for a while instead of pacing outside.

At first, Sally didn't say anything to acknowledge his presence. Rather, she opened the cabinet doors and prepared two glasses of milk and the cookies. After a few moments, she set everything down on the table in front of Percy, who had been watching her silently.

"Like old times?" She asked, smiling gently.

The smile Percy returned to her was one of absolute weariness, and Sally felt a pang of hurt in her heart at the obvious pain he was in. Silently, she cursed the world that hurt her son so terribly. But she didn't dwell. Her son needed her more. Percy reached out for a cookie and began to munch on it.

It was another moment before he started to speak.

"I know that you know I'm not sleeping," He said, staring down at the cookie. Sally blinked. Percy had never been one to beat around the bush but she hadn't expected it to come up so quickly. But she kept quiet and let him speak. "I'm sorry if I'm worrying you, it's just that every time I close my eyes I can't help but see that place."

He paused for a moment, staring at the glass of milk in front of him.

"I'm so tired, but at the same time, I don't want to sleep," He said. "It's all I can think about, and I really don't know what to do. I'm supposed to be a leader at Camp, but I can't even move on from something as stupid as this."

They sat in silence.

"It's not stupid," Sally began. "And you deserve to give yourself some time to get better."

Percy said nothing.

"We can keep doing this if you think it'll help," Sally said. "You know I don't mind listening if you want to talk, or if you just want to sit for a bit, that's fine too. But you have to promise me that you'll at least try, okay?"

Percy paused, before nodding slowly. "That would be nice," He said. "And I promise."

After another hour or so of mindless talk, the two headed back towards their respective rooms. Sally watched Percy shut the door behind him before closing her own.

She returned to the bed, grabbing a spare blanket from the dresser and realizing that Paul had stolen all of the covers.

She let out a deep breath, feeling slightly better about the future. There were still problems, and they hadn't really talked about much this time, but it was a step in the right direction.

For now, she could be content with that.

 **A/N: Thank you for reading, and please review! They always make my day!**

 **Constructive criticism is always appreciated.**

 **~DreamingCerulean**

 **Published: January 2nd, 2019**


End file.
